New woke Star Trek show features 'first gay Klingon'

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy features a gay Klingon cadet. The show features a lesbian relationship between a mixed Klingon and Jem'Hadar and Tig Notaro, who plays a teacher at the Academy, as well as a Klingon man who dates a human.

“I won’t pretend that I wasn’t scared to take on this role. Part of me still is. Not because of the character himself, but because I knew the reaction that could come with it," actor Karim Diané said of his character, Jay-Den Kraag, per Pink News.

To those who aren't crazy about the warrior race being displayed as gay, Diané says their concerns are just "rooted in homophobia, racism, bigotry." In the Star Trek universe, Klingons are a warrior race who are always ready for a fight and go into battle under the mantra "today is a good day to die."

"But what matters more is this," said Diané, "over the past few weeks since this show premiered, I’ve received countless messages from LGBTQ+ people around the world… people who feel seen, validated, and inspired by Jay-Den. Those messages outweigh every bit of negativity. Every single time."

Episode 7, which aired this week, showed the Klingon character heading off to Ibiza to party down with his gay lover Kyle for spring break, or "All Worlds Day," as it's called on the show. Jay-Den Kraag didn't even end up making it on the trip; he got sidetracked by another plot line, but Kyle came back terribly sunburned. Other cadets spent their All Worlds Day holidays with their families.

Of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Diané said he imagined a future that expanded who gets to be seen, heard, and valued. “A future where diversity isn’t merely tolerated but celebrated. Jay-Den doesn’t exist outside of that tradition. He exists because of it. ‘Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations’ isn’t just a catchy phrase Roddenberry tossed around. I believe he truly meant it,” he said.

Trekkers and Trekkies on X spoke out against the absurdity of taking a Star Trek series and making it about sexual identity, with one user saying "life long star trek fan but have not even started watching starfleet academy, i just can´t. from captain picard fighting the borg which was beyond epic to increasingly woke and insane storylines with every new series of star trek that has made it impossible to watch.”

"And then they wonder why people only watch the old shows, is because they were fun and entertaining not a platform to push an agenda," said another.

Roddenberry had guidelines for the Star Trek universe, including that there would be no turmoil within the crew, and that they would face external conflicts from a unified stance. On Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, the characters on barely operable as a crew and definitely not friends. The United Federal of Planets, which serves as a proxy for the US, is hated and derided by Star Fleet cadets and captains alike.